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Just how cruel can this origin story truly be. . .
“Cruella” is a crime-comedy drama film based upon the character Cruella de Vil from the famous Dodie Smith novel “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” and the 1961 film adaptation. Where many stories before always focused on the dalmatians, this film twists audiences and places the attention on the notorious antagonist Cruella de Vil. We are now introduced to how She turned into the villain we all know and her obsession with furs especially that of dalmatians.
After sitting through this over two-hour long film, I am going to have no choice but to award it eight out of ten stars. Let me now tell you why this film deserves this score.
Beginning with the whole plot it seemed at first that we never really needed a backstory to Cruella since she has always been a well-developed character. However, this film decides to dig deeper into how she became who she is and holds nothing back. It’s not just a this happened and that is the whole reason why she claimed her image. Oh no, there is plenty to the whole Cruella character than meets the eye and I never thought there was still much to learn about her. It’s just like when you think you know everything about someone you can’t possibly believe there is anything else. Well, this film proves us all wrong.
Turning to the characters we get to learn more about each as the film progresses and see how each crossed path with each other. We get to see both old and new characters so the film does not appear to be too predictable. Everyone did a phenomenal job portraying their characters especially Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. Throughout the film, I felt like these two were born for these roles and they did not disappoint. Both actresses nailed their roles to the point that if they portrayed them anymore, they would end up becoming the characters forever.
Then comes the special effects and cinematography altogether which brought out the dark a twisted nature of the film. Audiences knew from the beginning the film was going to be a much darker version of any “Dalmatian” adaptation and it kept true to its word. Even though Disney tends to target just the younger audiences this film did just what many other live-action films have done by also targeting older audiences. Even having the film take place during the 1970s punk rock era in London helped create the image of the film. It only added to the darkness making the film stand tall with many other live-action films by Disney.
Now there have been rumors of a possible sequel that would give us more backstory to Cruella, but that is a story for another time.
Until then, go see this film and remember that if you have any dalmatians, it’s best to just keep them inside.
